Dental practitioners have been aware for years that the repeated touching of the dental lamp by gloved or ungloved hands after the dental practitioner's, or the hygienist's hands have been in or around the mouths of several different patients without sterilization can bring about the spread of contagious diseases. Such contagious or communicable diseases are borne in or on the body fluids and/or tissues which become attached to the exterior surfaces of the gloved or ungloved hands of the dental practitioner or hygienist and are transmitted to the lamp handles or adjusting means through contact. More recently the spread of the Hepatitus virus and the Acquired Immune Deficiency virus have caused great concern for dental practitioners, hygienists and other dental office staff, not only for their patients, but also for their own health and well-being.
Both the Hepatitus virus and the Acquired Immune Deficiency virus are carried in or on body fluids and/or tissues. In the environment in which dental practitioners and hygienists work, i.e. inside the mouth, body fluids such as saliva, blood, etc. and the tissues comprising the gum and portions of the teeth, the pulp and root, may potentially transmit the virus through contact. The process of cleaning and/or repairing teeth by filling caries or performing a root canal procedure requires the drilling of the teeth and the subsequent scattering of tissue particles and body fluids about the mouth. Some of those particles and/or fluids become attached or adhere to the gloved or ungloved hand of the dental practitioner or hygienist. Cleaning and sterilizing the lamp handles or adjusting means between patients has been a serious problem for dental practitioners and hygienists because of their construction.
During dental procedures ranging from filling caries to cleaning teeth, the lamp is almost continually repositioned for better lighting in the interior of a patient's mouth. The lamp handles or other adjusting means are touched by the dental practitioner or hygienist in attempts to refocus the light onto the desired point interior to the patient's mouth. Refocusing the light emitted by the lamp is accomplished without the dental practitioner or hygienist sterilizing their gloved or ungloved hands while working on a patient. Anything they may have come into contact with while their hands were in the patients's mouth will be transmitted to the surface of the lamp handle or other adjusting means upon contact.
There have been some reported attempts to provide covers for surgical lamps for use in an hospital operatory. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,559,671 [Andrews] and 4,621,735 [Coon] appear to address the problem in the almost completely sterile environment of an hospital operating room. However, little has been done to improve the level of sterilization for lamps used in the dental operatory.
The dental lamp is not thought of as a disease transmission device. It is usually cleaned, but not sterilized. The sterilization of a dental lamp, which is large and cumbersome to manipulate when not mounted to the ceiling or the wall and is not easily placed in a sterilization chamber as may be small dental instruments, is extremely difficult. The lamp may be sprayed with a disinfecting agent but such practice does not reduce or eliminate bacteria or virus forms on the lamp and usually does not occur more than possibly once or twice a day. Thus, disinfecting of the lamp does not occur between patients and certainly does not occur between hand contact with the lamp by the dental practitioner, hygienist or other staff members during the performing of dental procedures on a patient.
In recent years dental practitioners and hygienists have become increasingly aware of the rapid spread of communicable diseases through body fluids and tissues such as may be dislodged and/or become attached to the gloved or ungloved hands of the dental practitioner or hygienist during procedures in the mouth of a patient. In fact, dental practitioners, along with the dental hygienists, have been cautioned to protect themselves from infection by using sterile gloves and masks and to use protective glasses when practicing dentistry or other dental procedures on their patients. Very recently the rapid spread of the Hepatitus virus and the Acquired Immune Deficiency virus has caused significant concern among dental practitioners and hygienists. The American Dental Association and other professional organizations have strongly urged that dental practitioners and hygienists take additional steps to decrease the chance of spreading the disease through the use of non-sterile implements.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sterile protective covering or shield for the dental lamp handles or adjusting means to significantly reduce or prevent the spread of contagious, communicable diseases.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a shield which is disposable after a single use and which is easily applied and removed so that it will have wide-spread acceptance in the dental professions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a shield which is highly elastic and stretchable, yet tear resistant, and which is capable of covering the entirety of a variety of different shaped dental lamp handles.
Other objects will appear hereinafter.